The Brazilian: Revelation
by twilight.thebrazilian
Summary: A strange professor comes to Seattle to give a lecture at Bella's University, and reveals a mysterious relationship he has with Esme and Carlisle. The origin and nature of the couple's connection to Rio and the Amazon become more clear and its importance more evident as each chapter unfolds.
1. Chapter 1

**The Brazilian: Revelation**

**by Edu Cafe**

**Chapter ****1**

Edward, Renesmee and I had moved to Seattle about six months after the showdown with the Volturi at the meadows near Forks. The fall had come bringing along the clouds that cloaked our immortality from the gaze of the common population.

I had graduated from high school by late spring, and spent the summer listening to family tales from the Cullen's wide scope of past experiences. It didn't even occur to me, up to that point, how little I knew about their past, and about how they occupied themselves 24 hours a day, since all of the "kids" had learnt everything anyone can possibly learn, having spent decades pretending to be high schoolers.

It turns out they were skilled in many crafts, adept in many art forms, knowledgeable in many subjects. I could listen to them all my life (and that is a _very_ long time) and never reach the end of it.

But Carlisle used to tell me there are always new things to learn, even for them.

"Otherwise, wouldn't eternity be _so_ boring?" He said with that kindest of all smile of his.

Carlisle was so kind, that eventually it hit me that his supernatural talent was his huge, refined, powerful and pure kindness. And that opened up a whole new perspective for me, because he wasn't so much able to touch vampires, except to enhance it in the ones that already had that inclination within their souls (yes, Edward, vampires _do _have souls) in some degree. It was humans that he could really touch and transform.

"Vampires, like any other living beings, have a mission in the world, a purpose of their own. And, most of the time, it involves the human realm. Our family has chosen to be a positive influence in human affairs, unlike most of our kind." Carlisle explained, with his ever soothing voice.

"Then why does Edward think he doesn't have a soul? If we can be a positive presence in the world, make good deeds and spread love, like you and Esme do, isn't that something only someone that has a soul could do?" I asked.

"Edward doesn't allow himself to hear me talk about this. Even when I _think_ about it he shuts himself down. He is too much attached to the part of us that he considers to be demoniac. The killing instinct."

"Oh, Carlisle, but you and your family don't kill human beings!"

"Our family." He corrected me, bringing a smile to my face.

Perhaps brooding over his own failed attempts at releasing Edward from his inner pain, Carlisle made a long pause before speaking again.

"I think Edward never got over his past."

With that remark, I turned silent.

Carlisle thought that was the cue to end the conversation, at least for now. I had to digest everything he said, which I thought was actually the most important thing any of my new family members had ever told me.

But before he left to go to the hospital, he added with a soft smile:

"Although I think yours and Renesmee's arrival in his life is changing the way he views these things."

Carlisle always had a way to bring hope to people around him. And I loved him for that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

I had enrolled in an alternative college in Seattle: Washington Humanities University, or WHU. It offered a bunch of courses in the human sciences. History, Linguistics, Literature, Philosophy, Psychology, Arts, Sociology, Political Science, Archaeology and Anthropology. The program was conducted in a way that interlaced as much as possible all the subjects from every course.

I was very excited with the prospect of studying, especially anthropology. I had thought my academic life would be over after graduating high school, but Edward eventually told me some of them loved to go to college from time to time. They just had to choose the right places and keep themselves low key.

The subject I anticipated most was mythology. Ever since I dug myself into vampiric and native american tales, I felt so passionate about those stories. After all, if vampires and werewolves were real, could gods and demigods be as well? This was a thought that intrigued me, and no one in the family had much to say about it. This was something even _they_ had no knowledge about, and that spurred me on as well.

The first weeks of classes were even beyond my expectations. There were two professors, particularly, that struck a cord in me. They were anthropologists Dr. Alden Eagles, who was actually born at Jacob's reservation, and Dr. Mary Ellen Voight, that had been a renowned field archaeologist before losing her movements from the waist down, in an accident at one of her excavating sites.

Mr. Eagles was in his late forties, and was a stern but very polite man, so tall and so strong that he sometimes seemed a giant to me. His specialization was not native american mythology, as one would expect. He said he had been a victim of prejudice in his undergraduate days, and wanted to prove that he could have knowledge about any topic, not just those referring to his own culture. This didn't mean, though, that he had lack of expertise in native american mythology and culture. Quite the contrary. The class he taught that I was in was entitled "Introduction to Anthropology". Duh. It was my first semester.

Mrs. Voight, who was 56 years old (I did the math by the age she was when she discovered a large site in Northeast Brazil) had a very different personality. She was sunny, sympathetic and just plain lovely, despite her sad and difficult personal history, which went way beyond just her accident. Her specialization was, of course, pre-historical studies, which was the subject of her class. But she was so well-read that it seemed a class about _everything_, even though we ended up learning the subject as thoroughly as humanly possible considering the rhythm of our schedule.

They were both _unbelievably_ smart.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

In mid-november there was a series of lectures at the University, organized by the Anthropology department.

The most anticipated lecture was by a Brazilian Ph.D. named Eliana Mendes. She was actually Professor Voight's mentor, even though she wasn't an archaeologist and had never been in an archaeological site herself. Having written dozens of books and hundreds of articles, she was one of the most influential minds in contemporary anthropology. It was always pointed out that she was over 90 years old, because she was still so active and clearheaded. She had the admiration of every professor I heard talking about her.

So I was very eager to her lecture. I arrived early at the conference room, so early that the doors were still closed. I had Edward coming along, and I wanted to have some time to finish reading one of her most recent articles, so I could brief him in the subject she was going to dwell upon. And it was kind of a surprise I wanted to make him. It was going to blow his mind.

The doors opened. I saved a seat beside me for Edward in the back row, where he always liked to sit, since vampire's sight is so much more refined than human's. It doesn't make things bigger, but it makes them much clearer, like a digital TV in comparison to an old one. It was so lovely how thoughtful he was all the time.

But he was late, and I started to get upset. The lecture was about to begin, and I didn't want him to miss a thing! And I got even more mad when the mediator annouced the professor.

But I forgot about all that when she entered the room, being escorted to the center of the stage. Or, should I say, when _he_ entered the room. It wasn't an old lady they were introducing as Dr. Eliana Mendes, it was a man in his early thirties! At first, I thought I had misunderstood something. But he, or she, was being applauded in a standing ovation, and when everyone sat down and the lecture began, he started talking as if he were _her_!

The handsome man, owner of a soothing yet powerful voice, on top of it all didn't stop staring at me. He was telling a mesmerizing tale from the depths of the rainforest when Edward finally arrived.

"Is that the professor you said was 90 years old? She looks _very_ young for her age."

_Her_ age? Was Edward also seeing a _woman_ when I was seeing a _man_? I looked at him, puzzled, and he sighed.

"I know. I'm late. But you can yell at me later. Let's listen to the fair lady, because after you talked her up so much, I'm extremely curious."

I froze. Was I becoming crazy? Was I hallucinating? And then it hit me. My talent. My shield. Zafrina's ability.

Dr. Eliana Mendes was a vampire.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was as fast and electric as a lightning bolt. It pierced my shield for a split second, just long enough to hear him say to me, without any words:

"Don't tell anyone."

Somehow I felt I better do what he said. There was something in his eyes that was very strange, in a way that I couldn't decide was good or bad. It was kind of chilling.

To get my mind off this feeling, I finally started paying attention to what he was saying. I glanced at Edward, and, as I predicted, he was fascinated, completely immersed in his words (_her_ words, as far as he knew).

"This recently discovered tribe, the _Yuajaras_, had been living in isolation from the so-called _civilized world_ up until 2003, when one of its members shot to death, with an amazingly sophisticaded set of arrows, a number of subordinates of a cattle farmer, that were burning the forest in order to expand the pasture, at the border of the Brazilian states of Amapa and Para."

"In the days that followed, all cattle farmers and their subordinates within a 35-mile radius were murdered. All of them with the same specific arrows."

"People from the nearest villages got terrified, but as the local powers were deeply involved with illegal activities, the whole thing was swept under the carpet and everyone denied that there was anything unusual. The deaths were imputed to burning accidents and wild animal attacks."

"Well, not _everyone_ denied it. A doctor from the Northeast state of Maranhao, working as an itinerant physician along the Amazon basin, happened to be in one of the nearby villages when it all took place. He made contact with the government's agency for native tribes and reservations, and, after having his calls rejected by a number of secretaries, threatened to take the matter to the press if nothing was done about it."

"Coincidently, in the following week he was found shot to the head, this time by a firearm bullet. Well, whoever did this didn't expect what was coming. See, the doctor had already made contact with journalists from the city of Belem, Para's capital, and the story received national repercussion."

"It led to an unprecedented investigation over illegal pasturing in the forest, which ended up in hundreds of arrests, including the exposure of an organized scheme involving high officers, public servants, judges and politicians."

"To be fair, the Federal Police was already investigating the criminal organization. But the doctor's death created a commotion that increased the pressure upon the authorities to dismantle the organization. You couple that with the environmental discourse about deforestation and the growing intolerance from Brazilian society against widespread corruption, and you have yourself a barrel of powder ready to explode."

"Well, you must be asking by now: what about that damn tribe?" A wave of laughter spread through the room.

"The Yuajaras went under the radar once again, until one of its members, called Yumbira, unexpectedly appeared in Belem. He sought an anthropology professor at the Universidade Federal do Para, Dr. Osmar Torres, and told the story of his tribe. He spoke the Yanomami language, from the known tribe of the same name, which the professor had studied."

"Their meetings were kept secret, at Yumbira's request. About 9 months later, he disappeared, leaving Torres with pages and pages and many audio recordings of his conversations with the Yuajara native."

"Last year, more specifically June 2005, his momentous book _Yuajara: the invisible ones_ was published, causing, as you know, worldwide commotion in the field."

"Finally, the locals from the villages near the site of the murders opened their mouths in relief, bodies were exumed and a significant number of arrows was found. Other than these, only local tales and the stories Yumbira told the professor remained."

"So, we are all left with a gigantic puzzle. Is Torres being honest about his findings? There _are_ the recordings, and the supposed Yuajara _does_ speak Yanomami in a strange accent, but that could easily have been a setup."

"The legends referred to here, however, are unique, and, if part of a hoax, then, let me tell you, this Yumbira fellow is a true literary genius." The auditorium laughed again.

As he (I've decided to use the masculine pronoun) paused to drink some water, I noticed that the audience, including Edward, couldn't even blink. Mendes's phrases came out as if they were hypnotizing pendulums, so powerful was his charisma and so intense was the passion and magical atmosphere he imbued his words with.

Ravished myself, after almost being scared to death by that mysterious man, I now felt somehow close to him, as if he were an old beloved teacher, and clearly noticed something very familiar in him, something _so_ familiar I couldn't even believe it.

His eyes were just like Esme's.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

The resemblance was so staggering that I almost lost sight of what I was doing there. But I _had_ to listen to his lecture, so I made an effort to concentrate back on his words. The 30 year-old man, that everyone but me saw as a 90 year-old woman, resumed his presentation.

"So, for those of you who aren't familiar with Dr. Torres's book, I'll try to summarize it.

"Yumbira, the supposed Yuajara native, begins his story by translating the tribe's name in its own language (this is the only word Yumbira reveals as belonging to the Yuajara language). "Yuajara" means "_the invisible ones_".

"What the hell? Invisible? Do they have some sort of weird cosmetic cream they soak themselves in? Nah. We're not supposed to take things so literally. Surely this is a metaphor for the way they blend themselves in the forest, smoothly navigate the rivers, without attracting attention, minding their own business. Right?

"Wrong. Cosmetic creams. That's what they use to 'become invisible'. And this is _literal_. Yumbira says they've never been found because they make themselves _physically_ unseen.

"Ok. We're scientists, we don't believe this sort of nonsense. We take it as _myth_. But let's write down this important piece of information, because it's in the core of this mythological universe.

"The _Invisible _Ones - and for those of you who are taking notes, write this term in capital letters - are immortal beings that have human forms, but live among us without getting noticed. There could be an _invisible one_ with us right here in this auditorium, as I speak!" Everyone laughed. "Hey, you, correct me if I'm innacurately portraying you, ok?" He said, glancing around the room in a theatrically humble tone, making us laugh even harder.

"Those magnificent beings are said to be the guardians of the world, the mediators between humankind and the gods. They have free transit between the physical and the spiritual worlds, and are in charge of what they call 'the evolution of the 4th kingdom in nature'. This 4th kingdom is the human kingdom, the bridge realm between the animal and the spiritual planes.

"But how do they do that? I mean, aid us in our 'evolution' towards the spiritual kingdom? How can they do that, if they're _invisible_?

"They disguise themselves. They touch us and interact with us and we don't even realize it.

"They do all that, and more, by the power of their _thought_.

"They can influence what we think, what we feel and even our body sensations, creating illusions. They can make us believe that we are eating pizza, breaking our leg, or even - and this one is my favorite - _having an orgasm_." This was the loudest laugh of the conference.

"Then why, we ask, don't they just make us all warm and loving human beings, and establish world peace, like the all miss universes want?

"Because they're forbidden. They have a defined range of action, out of which they can act only by breaking the rules. And what are the consequences of breaking the rules? Yumbira refuses to say, but I guess it wouldn't be like doing community service.

"And what is this range of action? Yumbira says it's very difficult to understand in purely human terms. He summarizes the question with his only statement on the subject, which is:

"_The Invisible Ones can only delicately enhance, through gentle suggestion, what is already present in human hearts, respecting karma and free will. They sense the quantity and quality of true love in each person and act accordingly. When they see love in a person, in a specific vibration, they turn their attention to them, and help them find the path to their wisdom. This is done in a variety of ways. I've been chosen by my tribe to tell you that you are not alone. If you seek a better world, seek and become your better self, and the better world will gradually come into existence. The Invisible Ones will help you in your Quest._"

"Okey-doke. This is, of course, not an entirely new formulation. There are other cultures and traditions that state something resembling this.

"But let's get back to the beginning of my presentation.

"The Yuajaras killed people. Are the _Invisible Ones_ murderers? Are they the ones that manufactured those unique arrows and killed the cattle farmers and their subordinates?

"Yumbira says no. According to him, 'regular' humans stole the secret of a plant that belong to Them. The plant whose flower is the raw material for the cream they use to make their bodies invisible. Yumbira says the plant thieves grew it in the region that was being invaded, and because of that they commited the murders. _They_ were the criminals, not the Yuajaras, as was thought.

"Torres went to the villages surrounding the region where it all happened, and the few people who had anything to say about it told him the Yuajaras were the killers. When he asked who were the Yuajaras, no one could answer. They said they heard about them only after the murders, and that they knew nothing about them. Nevertheless, they assured that the Yuajaras, even though no one knew them or their whereabouts, were the assassins.

"Yumbira, on the other hand, assured that the thieves were the killers, and took advantage of the national commotion to shift the location of the plant's culture. It's an uncategorized plant that can only bloom by the Amazon river, he says.

"So, according to Yumbira, part of his mission was to warn humans about these thieves, whom he names _The Soul Seizers_. Supposedly, they're spiritually primitive, but very sophisticaded in material and mental terms, having a negative influence over many people thoughout the world, including many connected to political and economic power.

"Sounds like a battle between good and evil, right? Well, Yumbira says it's not. He says there's really no such thing as evil, there is only underdevelopment of heart. All that belong to the 4th kingdom are destined to good, even though some seem so far from good that we can perceive them only as absolute evil.

"I highly recommend the reading of this book, even to people unfamiliar with the field of anthropology. It's a shame Dr. Torres died of a lung disease shortly after the book was published in Brazil."

But this wasn't the part of the book I was anticipating him to talk about. It was one of the chapters, about which he wrote the article I was reading. And after the introduction, he was finally going to get to it.

"Now, other than the _Invisible Ones_ and the _Soul Seizers_, Yumbira told Torres all kinds of tales of non-human creatures, and focused his attention mostly in two of them: fairies... and vampires.

"He introduced something not heard of before: fairies and vampires mating with humans, generating fairy-human and vampire-human hybrids.

"The bulk of the book hovers around those two kinds of hybrid beings.

Edward turned his face toward me in disbelief, and I said:

"Dr. Mendes is going to be a visiting professor here. She'll teach a course on this book next semester. And I've already enrolled."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

I wanted to go talk to Mendes, try to understand who he was and why he stared so much at me. But there were so many people handing him the books he wrote, in order for him to sign them, that it would take me forever to get to him.

Besides, Edward and I had left Renesmee alone at home. We didn't trust anyone to baby-sit a child who was half-vampire, and though she _was_ very mature for her age, we didn't like to be away from her for very long.

Edward drove the car very fast, and expressed his amazement at Mendes's lecture.

"Well, Bella, you've found gold! I mean, Nahuel and Huilen left us so soon, and we were so worn out by the encounter with the Volturi that it didn't even occur to us to ask them questions about his condition. If this Yumbira the professor talked about is the real thing, we'll have a lot of information to educate Renesmee better!"

Yeah. By the way, I think Yumbira, whoever he is, _is_ for real, because the professor _is a vampire_.

I don't know why, but I stopped myself from telling Edward that. I was uncomfortable keeping something so important from him, but the way Mendes asked me to keep to myself, and the way his eyes were _so_ like Esme's, were enough for me to yield to his request.

I couldn't do it for very long, though, so I had to get a chance to talk to the professor as soon as possible. The problem was I didn't know if he was staying in Seattle, or where I could find him. I was going to have to wait until the next day, and ask Prof. Voight how I could get in touch with him.

In the meantime, Edward, Renesmee and I rented a couple of movies online, and watched it in Renesmee's king side bed in her room.

When she liked a movie, she watched it over and over again. The first movie of the night was going to turn out to be one of those.

After we watched _Ghost Busters_, she went into a Bill Murray phase, and we were still in it. Tonight we resumed his filmography, with _Groundhog Day_.

God, did she enjoy that one! We ended up watching it all night. She thought the groundhog was so cute, and Bill Murray's character's so funny in his grumpiness and so adorable in the way he changed into such a beautiful human being, that she was utterly charmed by it.

It eventually worn Edward and I out, so we left her watching it again for the 4th time and went to our bedroom.

After we made love, we cuddled. I felt so safe with him. But not the kind of safe you just settle for, the kind that gets boring due to lack of challenges. We had established such a strong partnership in everything, and had created common dreams and goals. The main one, for now, was raising and protecting Renesmee, and we were together also in our fears for her, the one thing we had in common with human parents.

I was anticipating the conversations I would have with Mendes, that hopefully could help us in guiding our daughter to a happy and painless (to the highest possible degree) life.

Edward noticed I was brooding.

"What's the matter? You're quieter than usual."

He knew me so well that sometimes he made my shield seem useless. He could always tell something was bugging me, even though he couldn't tell exactly what.

"How much of Esme's life do you know about? You've been together basically all your vampire lives, but you usually don't talk about it."

"I think it just hasn't come up."

"Has she told you about her life as a human? I mean, more than you've already told me?"

"Not much. She's actually a very reserved person, despite being apparently so outspoken, with her joyful spirit and eyes full of light. She's more of a listener than a talker, and people don't even notice this. In a way, I think she doesn't want them to notice."

"What do you mean? Do you think she has something to hide?"

"Nothing bad, for sure. But I know there are things she only shares with Carlisle."

"How can you know that? You _can_ hear her thoughts, right?"

"Of course. But she can sense when I'm around, and I notice she changes her train of thought sometimes. Carlisle also warns me to let her think alone in those occasions. I respect that. Everyone is entitled to their privacy, even from a thought reader like me."

I had never thought about Edward's ability in that way before. It just made me admire him even more that he was so respectful of Esme's privacy.

"There was one time, in the mid-1960s, in which she stayed away from us for a couple of years. Supposedly she went to France to get her doctorate in architecture. But I know there was more to it."

"Why do you say that?"

"She asked me to try not hearing her thoughts. And I know she did the same with Alice, so she didn't have visions about her. And we both granted her wish. For everyone else but Carlisle, she was only studying abroad."

"Weren't you curious?"

"Extremely. But I owed it to her to respect her wish. She has been such a comfort in my dire existence. I mean, before you and I got together for good. I think she actually kept me alive all those years, surrounding me with her all-embracing love."

I was silent for a while, trying to soak in everything Edward had said. Could Esme's secrecy have anything to do with her astonishing resemblance to Mendes? It didn't make much sense.

"Why all of a sudden you're asking me about Esme? I mean, I understand your interest in getting to know her better, but why now? Why ask me, and not her? Or have you already asked her?"

"No, I haven't. I don't know. Somehow I think I've noticed she keeps more to herself. Well, I hadn't, but now that you mentioned it, I realize she's the one I know less about. Even less than Rosalie, who used to be a little untrusting of me, at least before Renesmee was born."

I think Edward noticed it didn't just happen to me to ask about Esme. That there was something more to it. But he let it go. And I really wished I could find Mendes the next day.

Or else I would have to go see Esme.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

When professor Voight's class was over, I went to talk to her. She told me Dr. Mendes had already got on a plane, and would come back only in January. That was almost two months from now.

So, I told Edward I missed Esme and Carlisle, and we went to visit them in Forks. We hadn't gone to our cottage for a while anyway, so I emphasized that in order to pretend there was no agenda behind our visit.

Like Edward would be so unperceptive. But I was discovering this new side of him. He really respected people's privacy, when it was important to them. To everyone else, this meant shutting out their thoughts. To me, it meant not insisting in asking about something.

The rest of the family was scattered in other places. Emmett and Rosalie were in Canada, and Alice and Jasper had moved to Norway. So, only Carlisle and Esme would be in the house.

When we got there, Renesmee jumped out of the car and went to give Carlisle a huge hug. He was the only one there.

"Good to see you all here! It's been a while. We were starting to wonder if you forgot about us..."

"As if that were possible, Carlisle." I replied his smile with one of my own.

I asked where Esme was.

"She's at the beach. She likes to go there sometimes. I mean, ever since we've been allowed to do so."

After the encounter with the Volturi, the Cullens and the wolves expanded the peace treaty. There were no borders anymore. There was nothing but absolute trust among us all now, so why should there be any kind of geographic boundaries?

"I'll let you start catching up, and go get Esme."

The three of them went inside the house as I drove to La Push.

When I arrived, I stepped in the sand, and didn't see her at first. Then I looked at a low cliff above the revolving waters, and saw her there, sitting, gazing at the sea.

She had a peculiar expression in her face. She wore a faint smile, and her eyes had a transparency that resembled tears about to shed, glowing like diamonds in the distance, in spite of the absence of sunlight.

I stood there for a while, just watching her. It was a beautiful sight to see. Her hair moved gently as she formed a portrait, alongside the bare nature, like a painter's masterpiece.

As I got closer, she sensed my presence, and turned toward me with the most delicately beautiful smile in the whole world. Her kindness flowed in the breeze and touched my face like a soothing lullaby.

She gave me a long hug, and greeted me joyously. She held my hands, looked deeply in my eyes, then started softly stroking my hair.

"Bella."

How she could immerse one single name, let alone my own, into so much love and meaning, I will never know.

"Did Edward and Renesmee come with you?"

"Yes, they're with Carlisle."

She suggested going to the house.

"Esme, it's so beautiful out here." Yes. It _was_ beautiful. It's strange how you come to appreciate beauty in dim weather when you are a vampire. "Do you mind if we stay for a while?"

We sat there in silence, and I gazed into the sea, as she was gazing before. And when I turned to look at her, she had that same faint smile that so powerfully caught my attention.

"Esme?" She looked at me. "There's something in your eyes... are you all right?"

She turned her face to the sea again.

"What you're seeing in my eyes..."

She uttered her words slowly, as calm as the waters moving in the distance.

"...is something that only the Portuguese language has a word for. It's called _saudade_. It means the feeling you have when you deeply miss someone that went away. And it's like they're there with you, like they're there _in_ you, with everything you've ever been through together and everything you've meant to each other, summed up and beating inside you as if it were your own heart. It's like they're near and far at the same time, like you'll see them both soon and never again."

Wow. This was intense. But who was she talking about?

"When I was a little girl, I was very lonely. Our farm was far from the city. My mother had an illness after I was born that made her barren, so I was an only child. I usually played by myself. I loved exploring the fields, and chose the moments my father and my mother were busy and distracted to walk through them.

"One day, when I was about 5 or 6 years old – I always stayed near the house at that age – I went a little farther than I used to, and got lost. Then I crossed paths with a man. A tall and handsome man, that I'd never seen before, even when I went to the city with mom and dad, to sell our crop. He talked to me with a strange accent, and I was a little scared of him. He told me he would get me back to my parents. I followed him, and ended up at home. Then he disappeared.

"I didn't tell anything to my parents, because I knew they would yell at me for going too far from the house. But I never forgot his face. I dreamt about that man many times, until my 9th birthday. My dad had given me a beautiful doll that I fell in love with when we went to the city one time. I knew it was very expensive, so I hadn't even asked him for it, because we weren't rich, and I didn't want him to feel bad for not being able to buy her for me. But I guess he noticed how my eyes lit up at the sight of her.

"The day after my birthday was the first time I went farther than I did that day, years before. I made sure to mark every step I took, so I wouldn't get lost again.

"As I sat to play with my doll, I heard leaves cracking behind me. That same man from all those years ago appeared again. I had gotten so attached to his image, on account of dreaming about him so often, that I wanted to put my doll down and hug him.

"Instead, I remained sitting, and _he_ sat beside me.

_What's her name?_, he asked me.

"His voice was as beautiful as his smile. I showed him my doll, and told him her story – which I made up as I spoke to him.

"She had come from the south, searching for her true love. But she couldn't find him. So she looked for me, and I was going to help her.

_And have you found him yet?_

"We hadn't. But we would. Even if it took a while.

"Then I asked him what was _his_ story.

"And I have cherished him in my heart ever since."


End file.
